John Robart Hodges was an Australian cricketer who played in the first two Test matches in 1877.
10 Facts About John Hodges
2.
John Hodges is one of the least-known Australian players, so meteoric and short was his career.
3.
John Hodges had the unusual distinction of playing in a Test match before playing for his colony.
4.
John Hodges's bowling had both pace and movement and occasionally he could swing the ball sharply.
5.
John Hodges bowled too short and was hit about the ground by some of the English batsmen.
6.
John Hodges got his chance to play in the inaugural Test when the more widely recognised bowler Frank Allan refused to travel to Melbourne from Warrnambool for the match.
7.
Allan could not spare the time and thus John Hodges bowled the very first ball for Australia in Test history and was unlucky not to take a wicket with it.
8.
John Hodges claimed another three wickets in the second Test and this time it was Andrew Greenwood that fell to him in both innings.
9.
Nine months after his representative matches, in December 1877, John Hodges made his debut for Victoria and played a second and last time for the state in February the following year.
10.
One of the last references to John Hodges came in January 1911 when Tom Horan, a former teammate in that inaugural Test side, reported that he believed John Hodges had moved to South Africa.